A Past Uncovered
by KelsiLovesLucas
Summary: RJ has been living with the hedgies for a few months now and has been enjoying his time with them… until a ghost from his past comes back to haunt him. Can he continue to move on with his life? Or will he finally have to face his biggest fear: his past
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey! It's me KelsiLovesLucas with my first ever Over the Hedge fic! I normally write HSM fics but I decided o try writing one about my favorite little Hedge animals cause I love that movie! I hope you all like this**

**Summary: RJ has been living with the hedgies for a few months now and has been enjoying his time with them… until a ghost from his past comes back to haunt him. Can he continue to move on with his life? Or will he finally have to face his biggest fear: his own past…**

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The sun was shining brightly over a small pond in the woods near a suburban town. Birds were chirping and the smell and feel of spring surrounded the area. A small turtle walked out of a log in the clearing and looked around.

"Everybody, wake up! It's spring!" He shouted. With that, animals of all species crawled out of the log sleepily.

"Morning, Verne." A raccoon said cheerfully. "It is truly a lovely day to wake up from hibernation, don't you think?"

"Yes, RJ. It's a very nice day. You know what this means, though, only 274 more days until we go back into hibernating. We've got to go get food!" Verne said. RJ rolled his eyes at his friend's words.

"Verne, Verne, Verne! We don't technically have to get food. I mean, there is a whole bunch of houses full of food for our taking! You know that by now." RJ smiled slyly.

"RJ, I don't want to steal food from humans. You remember what happened last time."

"Oh, come on Verne! That food is really good!" A skunk by the name of Stella said as she joined the conversation. "Besides, all we have to do is make sure we don't get caught and we're home free. We really have improved on our skills of stealing food." Stella argued with Verne. He groaned, knowing he had lost this argument.

"Fine. You win, we'll get food from humans." Verne sighed. All of the others cheered. The food was extremely good, they all had to admit.

"Verne! RJ! Guess what? I found my nuts, they are really tasty! I knew I hid them somewhere and I actually found them! You have to try them and now… I really gotta go to the bathroom so I'll be right back!" Hammy, the extremely hyper squirrel, chattered to them.

"Verne, quick question. What in the world did Hammy just say?" RJ asked. Verne only shrugged and walked away.

"Hey Verne? I was wondering if I could go get some food. I just saw some people unloading a box of food and the trunk of their car is still open so I could get some stuff, if I hurry. Please?" a possum asked.

"Well, okay, Heather." Verne agreed. "Be careful!" He shouted as she scurried away toward the hedge, disappearing in the brush.

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Heather ran across the humans yard and jumped up into their car, rifling through the box sitting there. She found a few bags of chips and a box of cereal. When she decided that she had enough, she jumped down and walked casually toward the hedge. Suddenly, a raccoon jumped on her, knocking Heather down and sending the food flying.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Heather shouted to the other animal.

"The question is what are you doing? I was planning to take that food and then you just got in the way of my plan! Get away, this is mine!" The raccoon shouted.

"Oh, cha right! I got the food! It's mine! Now give it!" Heather yelled as she ripped a bag of chips away from the raccoon. The raccoon glared at her and grabbed the other end of the bag. The two pulled on the bag, fighting over it until finally the bag tore in half and chips flew all over the yard.

"Oh, good going, possum! Look what you did!"

"What I did? You were the one pulling the bag from me!" Heather retorted.

"Oh, why am I even arguing with you? You're just some naïve wild animal who doesn't even know the way of life. This is my domain, kid. Back off!" The raccoon hissed. Heather looked at her, glaring.

"I have lived in these woods my entire life. How long have you been here?" Heather growled. The raccoon was silent, looking down at the ground. "That's what I thought. Besides, I've got a whole bunch of animals on the other side of that hedge, waiting for me to bring some food. You don't need all this." Heather argued with her.

"Maybe you're right. I'm sorry, it's just… well, you know how it is. It's hard living in the wild, on your own. I am all by myself. I don't need all this food. Go ahead and take it. I'll find food somewhere else." The raccoon said. With that, she slowly began to walk away. "Sorry about the chips." She called. Heather sighed and closed her eyes.

"Wait!" Heather called. The raccoon stopped and turned to look at her. "Do you want to come back with me? You could stay with us, or at least eat with us."

"You'd do that for me?"

"Well, sure I would." Heather smiled.

"But, why? I tried to steal your food and everything." The raccoon said.

"It's only the nice thing to do. I mean, RJ teaches us that—" Heather began but the raccoon cut her off.

"RJ?" she asked. Heather nodded. "RJ isn't a raccoon who lives with you, is he?" Heather nodded again. "I'm sorry, I can't go with you."

"What? Why? And how do you know RJ?" Heather questioned, suddenly suspicious of the small raccoon.

"I have to go. I'm sorry." The raccoon began to scurry away but Heather stopped her.

"How do you know RJ?" She asked again. The other animal sighed.

"I can't tell you. If RJ hasn't told you then that's probably because he doesn't want you to know. If you really wanna know though, ask him about Tally." She said, then she hurried away. Heather stood silent for a moment before gathering up the food and running back into the woods. She now had a mission more important than finding food. Her new mission was to find out about this mysterious raccoon named Tally.

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Well, there's the firs chapter! I hope you all liked it. I will update as soon as I can. Pleas review and let me know what you thought. The next chapter will have more of the other characters and more drama, too. It will also have more about Hammy! I love that crazy squirrel… well, review time! I love you all!

**God bless,**

**Kelsi**

**((KelsiLovesLucas)) **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey! It's me KelsiLovesLucas with my first ever Over the Hedge fic! I normally write HSM fics but I decided o try writing one about my favorite little Hedge animals cause I love that movie! I hope you all like this**

**Disclaimer: Sorry, I forgot the disclaimer in the last chapter. Um, I didn't own Over The Hedge then and I don't own it now. **

**Summary: RJ has been living with the hedgies for a few months now and has been enjoying his time with them… until a ghost from his past comes back to haunt him. Can he continue to move on with his life? Or will he finally have to face his biggest fear: his past…**

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_RECAP:_

"_How do you know RJ?" She asked again. The other animal sighed._

"_I can't tell you. If RJ hasn't told you then that's probably because he doesn't want you to know. If you really wanna know though, ask him about Tally." She said, then she hurried away. Heather stood silent for a moment before gathering up the food and running back into the woods. She now had a mission more important than finding food. Her new mission was to find out about this mysterious raccoon named Tally._

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Heather ran to the clearing, dropping the food into the log quickly and then heading back out to where the others were. "Wow, Heather. That should be enough food for today. Thanks!" Verne smiled.

"No problem, Verne. I was happy to do it, enjoy." She replied stiffly, staring at RJ.

"It took a little bit of time, any troubles?" RJ asked her.

"Oh, just a pesky little raccoon got in the way a bit. No worries, though RJ. Now, let's just _Tally_ up this food…"

"What did you just say?" RJ questioned suddenly, interrupting her.

"She said to tally up the food. Don't worry about it, Heather. We have plenty for now." Verne said before walking away. Heather stared at RJ and he chuckled uncomfortably.

"Wow, Heather! Look at all this food! Yummy, that looks really great; hey did you get any soda? How about cookies? You know I love those cookies! So, did you get some or anything really that is super tasty and sugary? Please say yes!" Hammy rambled, jumping up and down in front of Heather.

"Yeah, Hammy. Go ahead and look through the stuff. You might be able to find something hidden deep down in there, something that no one else knew about, maybe?" Heather said suspiciously, still looking at RJ.

"Oh-kay! Can do!" Hammy shouted as he ran to the log and dived into the pile of food.

RJ began to walk away but Heather ran in front of him and stopped him. "You wouldn't know anything about a raccoon, or raccoons, somewhere in the premises, would you RJ?" Heather interrogated. He only shook his head and began to walk away again, more briskly this time. "Really? Cause there's a raccoon who sure seems to know you."

"What are you talking about, Heather? I don't know about any—" RJ began but Heather interrupted him.

"Who's Tally?" She asked.

"Who?"

"Tally. A small, pretty girl raccoon. Tally, ring any bells?" She said strictly.

"Uh, no." RJ responded unconvincingly. Before Heather could say anything else, RJ rushed away. Heather sighed; she would just have to ask him again later.

"Heather! Lookie, I found a cookie! Ha, that rhymes! Hey, I could write a song!" Hammy exclaimed. "Lookie, I found a cookie. It's so round, I… found it on the ground! Lookie, lookie at my cookie!" Hammy sang. Heather chuckled as he did so and then shoved the cookie his mouth, smiling widely.

"That's great, Hammy. Seriously, you could be a singer. Or comedian, you know whatever works." Hammy smiled at her and skipped away, saying something about finding more cookies.

"Hey, Heather! RJ is acting really weird. Do you know what that's about?" Stella questioned the possum.

"No, but I intend to find out." With that Heather rushed away, trying to figure out how to get RJ to tell her about Tally.

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The sun was just beginning to set when Heather found RJ sitting by the pond, skipping rocks across the water's surface. It skipped four times and Heather clapped, making RJ jump. "Nice one, RJ." She smiled. He only looked back at the water, tossing another rock in, only this one simply sank to the bottom. Heather sat down next to RJ and the two sat in silence for a few moments.

"RJ?" Heather finally asked. The raccoon looked at her, waiting for her to continue. "Who is Tally?" Heather questioned softly. RJ sighed and lay back in the soft grass. "Pleas tell me, RJ! I met her, today. She was the raccoon who tried to steal the food from me. The minute I mentioned your name, she acted way weird. Please tell me who she is, I really wanna know." Heather begged.

"I can't tell you, Heather. I'm sorry." RJ whispered.

"Why not, RJ?"

"Because I… I don't wanna hurt my family. I've done that before and I don't plan on letting it happen again. You're my family, you all are and I don't wanna hurt you guys." RJ answered quietly.

"RJ, that's why you should tell me! Families don't keep things from each other. That's what hurts your family, RJ, hiding things." Heather told him.

"I'm not so sure anymore, Heather. I had a family once and things were great but it didn't stay that way. Hiding things hurts families but telling them what you've been hiding and why seems to hurt them even more. It's a no-win situation, I guess but sometimes keeping things a secret is better."

"Not really. If you keep things secret, keep them bottled up inside, then we'll just find out some other way and that will hurt more, RJ. To find out from someone else is more painful than just telling me yourself." Heather said. "Tally must care about you cause she wouldn't tell me how she knew you. She said that if you hadn't said anything about her yet then you probably didn't want me to know and that I needed to ask you cause you're the only one who could tell me." Heather explained.

"Heather, I want to tell you, I really do! I want to tell you all of you the truth about me but I just can't. I'm sorry." RJ got up and began to walk away.

"My mom died!" Heather said quickly. RJ spun around and looked at her. "When I was little, my mom died. She was living with my dad and me and all my other siblings. I was the youngest. A bear came here and attacked our home. The bear killed my mom and all my brothers and sisters. My dad and I were the only ones who lived. Sometimes, I see pets and people with their moms and I wish I had that. I dream about her when I sleep, and I sometimes pretend that she's still here. I just can never talk to her. I miss her so much, but I'm thankful because I still have my dad. My dad sometimes embarrasses me but I still love him, I don't know what I would do without him. He's all I have, besides the family." Heather said solemnly.

"Why, why are you telling me this?" RJ finally managed to say.

"Because, it's my deepest, darkest secret and because you're my family, RJ. I didn't want to hide something like that from you." She answered softly. RJ sighed and sat back down beside her.

"You don't give up, do you?" RJ asked her. Heather only shook her head. "I didn't think so."

"It's something my mom taught me." She smiled. RJ smiled back and the two sat in silence for a few minutes.

"You really wanna know who Tally is?" Heather nodded excitedly. "Fine, I'll tell you. You know how I used to have a family?"

"You mean before the 'weed-hacker incident'?" She laughed.

"Yeah, before that." RJ began sadly. "I really did have a family, Heather. We lived not too far from here actually. But we were closer to humans. It was hard to find food so I started sneaking into people's houses and taking food from them. I never told my family where I got it, they just accepted it. Eventually, the humans realized I was stealing from them and they set up traps. I got hurt, a lot. I still didn't tell my family cause I didn't want them to know. I didn't want them to worry about me, thinking I was hurting myself just for food. Finally, they did find out and they wanted me to stop taking food. I said I would but I didn't. I told them I was getting it from the dump and they believed me. When they found out I had lied, everything just got worse."

"Oh, RJ. What happened?" Heather asked.

"Well, we argued a lot. Then, one day, I left to get food. I brought it back but my family said no, that it was wrong to take from the humans. They said we would get food from the forest like we always did. I fought with them, with my wife. I left again, angry. When I came back, our home was in ruins. Some humans had come through with a weed-hacker and lots of other things to try and destroy us. And it worked." RJ finished. Heather gasped, unable to speak. "I think the worst par of it all, though, was that I never got to say good-bye. The worst part is knowing that the last words we said were that we hated each other."

"That's horrible, how come you never told us this before?" Heather asked him.

"I dunno. I guess I didn't know how to. I didn't want all of you to feel sorry for me, I hate pity parties." RJ shrugged.

"RJ, I am so sorry but that still doesn't explain who Tally is."

"Well, I guess I'm in the same position as you. When I got back and saw what had happened to my home, I felt horrible. I thought I was the only member of my family left but I wasn't, actually. My daughter had survived. She was the youngest girl and she and I were all that was left. Well, we left our old home together and tried to find somewhere else. But, that was difficult too. She was a real wild raccoon, she knew that way of the wild and I didn't cause I had gotten so used to stealing from people. One day, she went out to find food and never came back. That was Tally." RJ explained.

"Tally is your daughter?"

"She was, I don't know if she even considers me family anymore. But, yes, Tally is my daughter. The only member of my family that is left alive."

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Well, there is the second chapter! I told you there would be more drama! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I will update soon! Now, review time. Click that cute little button in the corner! If you click it and review, I will have Hammy deliver a cookie to your house! Okay, review! I love you all! See ya next chappie

**God bless,**

**Kelsi**

**((KelsiLovesLucas))**


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